Heat exchanger plate and heat exchangers including such plates



April 20, 1965 J. D. USHER ETAL 3,179,165

HEAT EXCHANGER PLATE AND HEAT EXCHANGERS INCLUDING SUCH PLATES Filed Feb- 19. 1962 s Sheets-Sheet 1 A llorneys April 20, 1965 J. D. USHER Em 3,179,165

HEAT EXCHANGER PLATE AND HEAT EXCHANGERS INCLUDING SUCH PLATES Filed Febfi ls, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Wm: 90% M mm By Wm: 72:94:!

Attorney:

April 20, 1965 J. D. USHER ETAL 3,179,165

HEAT EXCHANGER PLATE AND HEAT EXCHANGERS INCLUDING SUCH PLATES Filed Feb. 19, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Attorney:

United States Patent 0 F HEAT EXCHANGER PLATE AND HEAT EX- CHANGERS INCLUDING SUCH PLATES John Dennis Usher, Redhill, Surrey, and Felix William Wright, Crawley, Sussex, England, assignors to The A.P.V. Company Limited, Crawley, England Filed Feb. 19, 1962, Ser. No. 173,879 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Feb. 24, 1961, 6,892/61 8 Claims. (Cl. 165-166) This invention relates to heat exchanger plates and to heat exchanger units incorporating such plates.

In such heat exchangers, several plates are assembled in spaced face-to-face relationship to provide flow channels between the adjacent faces of the plates. The boundaries of the flow spaces are closed or sealed by flexible or resilient gaskets surrounding the flow spaces and disposed between the adjacent faces of the plates.

It is necessary to support the plates from one another within the flow space area bounded by the gaskets; this is normally achieved by forming local impressions within the flow space area of the plates and of such depth as to maintain the spacing of adjacent places. These operate to set a limit to which the plates can be urged towards one another and hence also the degree of compression of the gaskets, for which reason at least some of the impressions should be as close as is practical to the gaskets. However with the increasing use of high-pressure fluid flow through the flow channels it has become necessary also to give support to the gaskets outside the flow space area in order to give the greatest possible sealing pressure and to prevent the gaskets from being blown transversely and outwardly from between the plates.

Proposals for plate formation have already been made to that end and it is the main purpose of the present invention to provide a formation of plate which shall be simple, reliable and well adapted to modern methods of production.

According to the present invention, the heat exchanger unit comprises a plurality of heat exchanger plates assembled face to face and defining fluid flow areas between adjacent facesof the plates. Each such plate carries a gasket, mounted in a gasket recess, which cooperates with an adjacent plate to seal the associated fluid flow area. A first set of alternate ones of these plates have aligned portions which are bent over outside the corresponding gasket recesses and thus form two continuous interplate supporting surfaces running parallel with the recess. These supporting surfaces are spaced apart in a direction normal to the planes of the plates and face in opposite directions for co-operation with aligned portions of a second set of alternate ones of the heat exchanger plates. The aligned portions of the adjacent second plates are corrugated, the resulting corrugations forming bearing surfaces of variable height which hear at spaced regions against the respective supporting surfaces of alternate first plates to provide interplate support outside the gasket recesses.

To form the supporting surfaces on the first plate the outer Wall may be outwardly flanged at its upper end and this flange is (as seen in cross-section) bent over and down. In this case the bend afiords a crest constituting the outer supporting surface and the lower edge of the bent-down flange forms the other supporting surface, both of course being continuous as defined. In some cases the lower edge of the flange can be rolled into a return to provide a supporting surface having a substantial width; in other cases the returned end of the flange can be extended up to an additional outward bend. In the latter case the return bend and the additional bend provide 3,179,165 Patented Apr. 20, 1965 the two supporting surfaces of the flange, these two surfaces both being laterally beyond the outer wall of the recess.

In the intervening second plates, the varying level bearing surfaces may be created by undulating surfaces which provide crests for cooperation with the laterally extending supporting surfaces on the first plates, the undulations extending either transversely of or normal to the plate.

The invention is shown in different forms in the accompanying drawings in which: FIGURES 1 and 2 are a local section and a local side elevation of one assembly, FIGURES 3 and 4 are a local section and an elevation of another assembly, and FIGURES 5 and 6 are a local section and a plan View of a further assembly, FIGURE 7 shows an alternative form for one of the plates, and

FIGURE 8 is a face view of a typical plate having a formation of gasket recess in accordance withlthis invention.

In all of the figures, the plate is indicated at 1, the gasket at 2, the base wall of the gasket recess at 3 and its side wall at 4. In all of the figures, the two straight continuous supporting surfaces are indicated at 5, 6 these surfaces being at the required different distances from the plane of the base wall 3. In the constructions shown, the surfaces 6 are in that plane, i.e. the distance is zero.

In FIGURES 1 to 6, the first bend of a flange extending outward from the gasket recess affords the supporting surface 5 and a small return bend constitutes the other supporting surface 6.

In FIGURE 7, the supporting surfaces 5, 6 are formed.

by bending down a flange F extending out from the upper edge of the sidewall 4, then returning the flangeabout a first bend which constitutes the surface 6, and again reversely returning the flange about a second bend to provide the other surface 5.

In FIGURES 1 and 2, an intervening second plate has its side wall 4 formed with an undulating or corrugated upper edge, the undulations or corrugations extending the whole or a part of the depth of the side wall 4. This upper edge is formed with an outstanding flange 7 which carries the undulations laterally out from the second plate to provide crests 5 6 whichspan the supporting surfaces 5, 6 of the first plate. In the arrangement shown in these figures, the depth of support given by the wall 4 to the gasket 2 varies with the height of the undulations. FIGURES 3 and 4- show a modification which enables the depths of the wall 4 to remain constant and this is achieved by forming the undulations in a flange 8 which is itself of undulating form to provide the laterally extending crests 5 6 In FIGURES 1 to 4, the crests 5 6 extend out laterally of the plate. In FIGURES 5 and 6, the crests 5 6 extend in a direction normal to the plate. In these figures, the side wall 4 has an undulating form impressed in it lengthwise, the undulations extending transversely of the second plate and the upper edge of the undulation wall 4 being provided with an out-turned flange 9. This flange 9 and the base wall 3, which latter has a corresponding undulating form, provide the crests 5 6 to cooperate with the supporting surfaces 5, 6 of the first plate.

Referring to FIGURE 8, this figure shows the application of the invention as shown in FIGURE 2 to a plate of a form having transverse undulations 10 which 00- operate with undulations on adjacent plates to provide flow spaces between an inlet opening 11 and an outlet opening 12, the gasket 2 having the shape shown to isolate other openings 13 and 14 which provide transfer ports. The plate is provided within its flow area within the gasket with raised projections and depressions which tionship to provide fluid flow areas between adjacent faces of the plates, each plate having a peripheral gasket recess, a gasket in each said recess co-operating with an adjacent plate to define and seal a fiuid fiow area, aligned portions of a first set of alternate plates being bent over outside the corresponding gasket recesses to form two straight continuous interplate supporting surfaces running parallel with the length of the recesses, said supporting surfaces being spaced from each other in a direction normal to the planes of the plates and in a direction parallel to the planes of the plates and facing oppositely for co-operation with adjacent second plates on each side, aligned portions of the adjacent second plates being corrugated toform bearing surfaces of varying level which bear intermittently against the respective straight cong tinuous supporting surfaces on said alternate first plates on opposite sides of Said second plates at locations spaced from one another in directions both normal to and parallel to the planes of said plates to provide interplate support outside the gasket recesses.

2. A plate type heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, in which the gasket recesses of said first set of plates include an outer wall, said outer wall having an extension which is bent over to form a first one of the supporting surfaces immediately outside the outer wall and bent back torform a second one of the supporting surfaces outside the first surface and spaced therefrom towards the base of the gasketrecess.

3. A plate type heat exchanger as claimed in claim 2, in which the second surface is at the level of the base of the gasket recess.

4. A plate'type heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, in which the gasket recesses of the said second plates include an outer Wall having a flange extending from the top thereof, the said flange having corrugations which constitute the said bearing surfaces.

5. A plate type heat exchangeras claimed in claim 1, in which the gasket recesses of the said second'plates include an outer Wall having a bent over extension and a lateral flange extending out of the said extension, the said flange having corrugations which constitute the i said bearing surfaces.

6. A plate type heat exchanger as claimed in claim 1, in which the gasket recesses of all the plates include outer walls, the outer Walls of the gasket recesses of the said aligned portions of the said second plates having lateral corrugations which constitute the said bearing surfaces.

7. A plate type heat exchanger as claimed in claim 6, in which the continuous interplate supporting surfaces on the aligned portions of said first set of plates are formed by the outer walls of the gasket recesses which are continued and bent over to form first ones of the surfaces immediately outside the outer walls and bent back to form second ones of the surfaces outside the first surfaces and spaced therefrom towards the bases of the gasket recesses.

8. A plate type heat exchanger comprising a plurality of heat exchanger plates assembled in face to face relationship to define fluid fiow areas between adjacent faces of the plates, each plate having a peripheral gasket recess, gasket means disposed in each recess and contacting an adjacent plate for sealing the associated fluid flow area, a first set of said plates having aligned portions bent over outside the corresponding gasket recesses to form two straight continuous interplate supporting surfaces extending parallel to the recesses, said supporting surfaces being spaced from one another in a direction normal to the planes of the plates and also in a direction parallel to the planes of the plates and facing in opposite directions, a second set of said plates interleaved with said first set and having aligned, corrugated portions to form bearing surfaces of variable height which bear intermittently against the respective straight continuous supporting surfaces of adjacent plates of said first set on opposite sides of the plates of said second set at locations spaced from one another in directions both normal to and parallel to the planes of said plates to provide interplate support outside the gasket recesses;

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,865,613 12/58 Egenwall et a1. 165-- 167 FOREEGN PATENTS 496,830 12/38 Great Britain. 513,589 10/39 Great Britain. 633,233 12/49 Great Britain.

CHARLES SUKALO, Primary Examiner. 

1. A PLATE TYPE HEAT EXCHANGER COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF HEAT EXCHANGER PLATES ASSEMBLED IN FACE TO FACE RELATIONSHIP TO PROVIDE FLUID FLOW AREAS BETWEEN ADJACENT FACES OF THE PLATES, EACH PLATE HAVING A PERIPHERAL GASKET RECESS, A GASKET IN EACH SAID RECESS CO-OPERATING WITH AN ADJACENT PLATE TO DEFINE AND SEAL A FLUID FLOW AREA, ALIGNED PORTIONS OF A FIRST SET OF ALTERNATE PLATES BEING BENT OVER OUTSIDE THE CORRESPONDING GASKET PLATES BEING BENT OVER STRAIGHT CONTINUOUS INTERPLATE SUPPORTING SURFACES RUNNING PARALLEL WITH THE LENGTH OF THE RECESSES, SAID SUPPORTING SURFACES BEING SPACED FROM EACH OTHER IN A DIRECTION NORMAL TO THE PLANES OF THE PLATES AND IN A DIRECTION PARALLEL TO THE PLANES OF THE PLATES AND FACING OPPOSITELY FOR CO-OPERATING WITH ADJACENT SECOND PLATES ON EACH SIDE, ALIGNED PORTIONS OF THE ADJACENT SECOND PLATES BEING CORRUGATED TO FORM BEARING SURFACES OF VARYING LEVEL WHICH BEAR INTERMITTENTLY AGAINST THE RESPECTIVE STRAIGHT CONTINUOUS SUPPORTING SURFACES ON SAID ALTERNATE FIRST PLATES ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID SECOND PLATES AT LOCATED SPACED FROM ONE ANOTHER IN DIRECTIONS BOTH NORMAL TO AND PARALLEL TO THE PLANES OF SAID PLATES TO PROVIDE INTERPLATE SUPPORT OUTSIDE THE GASKET RECESSES. 